Postwar
After the war, nativism continued to influence American policy towards refugees and evoked a reluctance to admit European refugees, termed after the war displaced persons (DPs). Yet, the new president Harry Truman viewed the question of the million European refugees who had survived the war and who opposed repatriation to their country of origin as a "world tragedy". Thus, he slowly encouraged the United States to take the lead in seeking a solution. Among the Displaced Persons, about 20 percent were Jews who languished in displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria or Italy, waiting for emigration visas. However, no country was willing to admit them in large numbers.
Antisemitism in the United States began to decline in the late 1940s. As they became aware of the Holocaust, many Americans found themselves ardently opposed to views which had been used to justify such genocide. Still, many of the conceptions that Jews were a "Godless people" who controlled U.S. money and wealth remained. Accordingly, "Fifty-seven anti-Semitic groups still existed in the United States throughout 1950’s". In many cases, antisemitic sentiments were shared by devout Christian groups who viewed the Jews as "materialistic, dishonest and vulgar".
Read more about this topic: History Of Antisemitism In The United States
Famous quotes containing the word postwar:
“Fashions change, and with the new psychoanalytical perspective of the postwar period [WWII], child rearing became enshrined as the special responsibility of mothers ... any shortcoming in adult life was now seen as rooted in the failure of mothering during childhood.”
—Sylvia Ann Hewitt (20th century)